PEVELY, Mo. — After winning the season opener one month ago, Cannon McIntosh garnered his second Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series feature Friday night at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55.
McIntosh, 20, took the lead late in the 30-lap main event from defending Series champion Zach Daum, slipping by on the bottom and driving off with the $4,000 check and his first career win at I-55 over Zach Daum and Ryan Timms.
Coming from third on the starting grid, McIntosh found himself as far back as seventh at one point in the opening laps after trying to make the top side work on the fast, third-mile oval. But he maintained composure, got back in the groove down low and soon began his charge to the front – picking off cars on the very bottom of the track when they slipped up.
“Pretty much every time a guy would make a mistake, you’d try and pounce then, because there weren’t too many opportunities to get guys,” McIntosh said.
By the halfway point, McIntosh had already made his way back up into the top-three and was gunning for the lead. He made the most of his jump to the inside on Rico Abreu for second on Lap 17, then followed that up with a push for the lead three laps later.
In control since the drop of the green, Daum was smooth but slower on the bottom – fighting an undiagnosed mechanical issue all night. It didn’t seem to hinder him a great deal, however, as he kept it out front for 18 laps before ultimately falling to second when McIntosh got underneath him at the exit of turn four on Lap 20.
“I could get in the corner really well, I felt like; I just couldn’t get off on exit and the motor was spitting and sputtering,” Daum said. “I figured somebody would try and sneak underneath me, and I saw the 08 pop-up on the board in second when he got by Rico, and I thought, ‘well, shoot.’
McIntosh got a big run through turns three and four with better corner-exit speed, pulled up alongside Daum and won the drag race into turn one to take the spot away permanently.
“I think that’s where I made up most of my ground is right there,” McIntosh said. “If a guy would slip-up just a little bit and I’d really pounce on them down the straightaway where they wouldn’t expect it.”
From there on out, it was smooth sailing for the Dave Mac-Dalby Motorsports No. 08. McIntosh crossed the stripe nearly five full seconds ahead of Daum and the rest of the field to collect his third series victory.
Daum crossed the stripe second – his best finish so far this season.
While McIntosh and Daum stayed up front all night, the final podium finisher had a lot further to go when he took the green.
Ryan Timms, 16, failed to transfer into the feature with his passing points total in the heats and was forced to run the Last Chance Showdown. He won that race, placing him 17th on the feature starting grid, where he then advanced 14 spots of position in 30 laps to claim third.
“I just slowly picked one car off at a time rolling the bottom,” Timms said. “Toward the end, I tried the top and it was just too dirty to make anything happen.”
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 08-Cannon McIntosh[3]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum[5]; 3. 67-Ryan Timms[17]; 4. 7U-Kyle Jones[2]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu[4]; 6. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[11]; 7. 40-Chase McDermand[1]; 8. 72J-Sam Johnson[23]; 9. 26R-Corbin Rueschenberg[18]; 10. 50-Daniel Adler[16]; 11. 2X-Landon Brooks[15]; 12. 97-Gavin Miller[6]; 13. 26-Chance Crum[13]; 14. 25K-Taylor Reimer[9]; 15. 71E-Mariah Ede[20]; 16. 71-Jade Avedisian[7]; 17. 7-Shannon McQueen[8]; 18. 77W-Joe Wirth[14]; 19. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[21]; 20. 00-Talin Turner[22]; 21. 97K-Cooper Williams[10]; 22. 21K-Karter Sarff[12]; 23. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[19]; 24. (DNS) 28P-Bradley Fezard